Hillary Has Still Not Released Delegates

Even as Hillary Clinton takes to the Convention floor this evening, she has still not released her pledeged delegates to support Barack Obama.

Several Indian American delegates who spoke to Little India, said the delegates were part of a conference call on Thursday, but they were not instructed even in that call to support Obama.

Longtime party activist and Clinton delegate Rajen Anand told Little India that he is fully behind Barack Obama, but as a Clinton delegate he is pledged to support her until she directs the delegates otherwise. That has still not been done. Likewise, Upendra Chivukula, a state legislature from New Jersey, also a Clinton delegate, says he supports Obama, but Clinton had not released her delegates to support Obama as of Monday evening.

Both Chivukula and Anand expected and hoped that Clinton would direct the delegates to vote for Obama and it would not go to a floor vote.

There are almost 40 Indian American delegates at the Democratic Convention this year, the largest in history. Several of them expressed disappointment and some even anger that Clinton had put them in a spot by not releasing them in advance of the convention to support Obama. "It puts us in a difficult spot," said one delegate. "I support Obama, but I cannot do so as I am pledged to Hillary and until she releases us I have to vote for her if there is a roll call vote. But I hope it does not come to that."